Shepherd of the Springs
Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod

Saintly Living, Here and Hereafter"

Texts: Dt. 33.3a; Rev. 7.14b; Mt. 5.11

From the OT of the Feast: Yes, He loved His people, all His holy ones were in His hand. [Deut. 33.3a]

From the Epistle of the Feast: And he said to me, "These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb." [Rev. 7.14b]

From the Holy Gospel of the Feast: Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on My account. [Mt. 5.11]

This afternoon, I have the privilege of preaching at the installation of Pr. John Frahm, at Gloria Christi Lutheran Church in Greeley. Like us, they will be observing the minor church festival called "The Feast of All Saints," transferred from its place on the Church Calendar, November 1. So, what’s the big deal that causes us and others, for one hour, to turn back the clock four days?

The focus of All Saints’ Day changed with the Lutheran Reformation. As originally conceived, All Saints’ Day was a time for remembrance of the faithful who have passed from the Church Militant to the Church Triumphant. In the Middle Ages, this theme was replaced by focusing on Christians who achieved what was recognized by Rome as a higher level of sanctification in this life than the ordinary Christian; and to pick up the rest of us, the Feast of All Soul’s Day was established on November the 2^nd. With the Reformation doctrine of the sinner-saint nature of the Christian life, All Saints’ Day has come to observe the status of saint which is shared by all Christians of all time. And so today, on this festival observance, the sermon text invites you, as God’s saint, to consider "Saintly Living, Here and Hereafter."

I.

One day, Jesus sees the crowds coming after Him again. What does He do? He leads His disciples up a nearby mountain – ok, it’s really a foothill in Colorado terms – and He sits down on the top of the foothill, to teach them. Inevitably, the crowds reach the place where He is seated, and they do indeed hear this teaching session, but the focus of Jesus’ attention is His twelve chosen apostles-to-be. He speaks the words of the so-called sermon on the mount to THEM, within ear-shot of those of the crowds who follow to up the mountain in order to be near this person who is called "Jesus, the Christ."

This, too, is a common rabbinic experience. The rabbi, the teacher, did the instruction of His chosen disciples in the hearing of any and all who would want to gather around to listen. And those gathered around Him did learn. But, the difference is that the disciples are in training, and hear their teacher every day. The crowds are hearing, too, but only because they happen to be there on a given day. To put it in terms of modern education: The disciples are registered for the entire course; the crowds are auditing a given day’s class.

St. Matthew records this response of the people, after this class session on the mountain is finished: "And when Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished at His teaching, for He taught them as one who had authority, and not as their scribes." That is to say, He taught them as a real rabbi, as a real teacher, as a real man of God.

Jesus, in this great and popular sermon, is teaching His twelve disciples. The things that He is teaching the disciples certainly apply to, and are true about, all believers. After all, the point in choosing and calling and training these disciples is that they will be His foundation for building His church. They will stand in His stead and speak by His command, and through them, He will continue His on-going earthly ministry that He begins in the sight of the multitudes. Through these apostles-to-be – literally, *on* them and their teaching – Christ will build His Church, the Church into which He has placed you in these latter days.

II.

Here you see the reason that the Lutheran Reformation turned the theme of "All Saints Day" from a focus on the sanctified behaviors of a few saintly church heros, to a focus on the fact that each of you and all Christians of all times and in all places are, together, one society of saints in Christ. All Saints Day is a confession of faith, confessing that when you are united into Christ’s Church by holy baptism, you are united into a distinct and separate society, culture, kingdom, and nation. It is the society, the culture, the kingdom, and the nation of God. It is the society, the culture, the kingdom, and the nation, whose members are citizens of heaven. It is the citizenry of "all the saints." It is the assembly of God’s chosen, as the Old Testament of the Day speaks: "Yes, He loved His people, all His holy ones – His saints – were in His hand." Thus understood, All Saints Day shows you what Christianity brings to you, namely, that you believe, hold to, and confess the truth that "I’m But a Stranger Here; Heaven is My Home."

This is precisely what the message of All Saints Day says to you. You are part of God’s clan. The Scriptures have a name for this clan. It is called the "Israel of God," or "the ecclesia" – the called-out ones – that in English is translated, "the Church." By grace, you have been grafted into this clan, you have been adopted into this nation. Everything in Christ’s Church is intended to combine to reinforce in you that you are a member of the Israel of God, the citizenship of heaven.

III.

God declares in His Holy Word that being a Christian is for you a matter of "being in the world, but not of the world," precisely because a you are part of "All Saints," and your citizenship is in the Israel of God. But the sinful nature – along with the contemporary culture, the world, and the devil himself – leads Christians to be "in the church, but not of the church."

If it must be that you are in the church, the devil strives mightily to guarantee that at least you are not of the church. He calls your attention, and stimulates your desires, to be "in the church, but not of it," to enjoy some churchly features while neglecting the other churchly messages, especially the message that you are a stranger here in this world, in this country, this culture, and this city, for heaven is your home.

Christ does not allow this to happen without His own response. He sees to it that enjoying the "creature comforts" of His Church does not distract from the true comfort of His Word. He uses the devil’s own hatred of the Gospel to show His people what Christianity truly brings you. That satanic hatred of the Gospel comes out in persecution. Hence, the words of our text: "Blessed are you when men shall revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on My account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so men persecuted the prophets who were before you."

Christianity will bring you unrest, all manner of evil things, falsehoods, and even persecution, because there’s always a difference between just being in God’s Church and actually being of God’s Church.

Suffering persecution of various sorts and various strengths is, always has been, and always will be in this world, a necessary feature of being part of "All the Saints." It is a sign of God’s faithfulness to you, for in the experience of opposition and persecution, God reminds you of who you are in Christ! As the Epistle of the Day puts it: "And he said to me, ‘These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.’ "

If you did not belong to Christ, this would not be happening to you! Since you are Christ’s, and you belong to His Israel of God, it will be happening. It happened to the prophets of Old. It happened to the apostles. It happened throughout the history of the Church. It happens today. To this reality that Christianity brings to you, is added this invitation: "Rejoice! Great is your reward in heaven!"